Ages
by DragonAgnstEvil
Summary: Join Irvine Stately as he begins his Pokemon adventure and aspires to the strongest trainer in the Soaell region. He has a lot to learn, and the lessons offer up a taste of reality and an opportunity to mature like the legends he loves.


**DISCLAIMER:** I do not own Pokémon or any cannon characters or storyline. I do own any introduced (aka: new) characters and storylines. I also own my own lazy state-of-affairs and unusual sense of humor. I reserve the right to only put the disclaimer with the prologue, but it carries over to all chapters henceforth. I also do not own your personality. You are to enjoy or not enjoy this at your leisure. I also reserve the right not to care that this story contains spoilers; though, I doubt there will be. In other words, you shouldn't read this if you don't know as much of the cannon story as I do.

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**Ages**

_Buzz! Buzz! Buzz! Buzz!_

_Wham!_

It's the crack of dawn. Normally, I wouldn't be waking up this early. As I rub the sleep from my eyes, I groggily turn over. The blue incandescent numbers read a quarter to six. Part of me wants to just roll over and go back to sleep, but a spark in the back of my head reminds me why I set the alarm so early.

It's the first day of my grand adventure as a Pokémon tamer! I'm going to be a trainer! Me, Irvine Stately of Remingdale!

Shaking off the last dregs of the night's slumber, I nearly jump out of bed…and trip over a corner of the rug near my bed. As my face greets the wooden floorboards, I begin to wonder what other wonderful twists my day will take. I groan and slowly push myself back up. I look at my reflection in the dark panel of my television as it reflects the light of the moon and rising sun.

A yawn interrupts me before I can rub the light dribble of blood away, and my depression is whisked away as easily as a feather in the summer breeze as my father calls for me from downstairs. I answer and assure him I'm all right. One light fall isn't going to stop me! The smell of coffee, on the other hand, might just. The bitter odor wafts past my nose, and I gag slightly.

How do people _drink_ that stuff! Of course, father says, like countless other men and women across the world, that they just can't start the day without that first cup of coffee.

I shake my head in disbelief and start pulling clothes out of my closet. Fortunately, my bag is packed and laying at the foot of my bed. Unfortunately, I fell asleep before deciding what I wanted to wear when I went to pick up my starter Pokémon. I pause holding my two favorite shirts, having already decided on a pair of thick, comfortable blue jeans.

What _am _I going to pick to start my adventure?

Finally picking out the black top with an image of a dusk ball on it, I remove my pajamas. I remain in thought as I dress for the day on autopilot. Underwear? Check. Socks? Check. Jeans? Check. Tee-shirt? Check. Shoes? Check. I grab my bag and head downstairs, picking up my coat on the way down. Why hadn't I already decided what Pokémon to start with?

With a sigh, I sit down to breakfast. I look across the table to see father nose deep in the newspaper. I look to his side to see mother absent. She wasn't back from her meeting in Port Eisenborough, the largest city in the Soaell region. We weren't really expecting her back, but I do want to see her before starting out.

I shrug my shoulders. There's nothing I can really do about it. I may as well enjoy my preflight banquet as much as possible. I clap my hands and show my thanks for the meal. Of course, father cooked my favorite breakfast for the occasion.

I lick my lips in anticipation and slather honey butter over my waffles. I pour a generous helping of maple syrup over everything on my plate. I don't know where I get my taste buds from. Neither father nor mother like syrup on their soft-boiled eggs and spicy sausage. I, on the other hand, simply love it.

I take the first exquisite bite and decide to read some of the headlines from father's newspaper. I nearly drop my fork in a eureka moment. The top headline is about the famous dragon master of the Diluvia Gym.

I continue eating, and my mind is awash in thoughts. The dragon master, Sam, is the aspiration of _every_ trainer! He's stronger than Soaell's elite four, champion, and grand master. No trainer has become either champion or grand master without first being acknowledge by him. Even if my real hero is long dead, a real life legend beckons me forward.

My father lowers one edge of his newspaper and looks at me with a knowing glint. I can't hide anything from him, so I don't even bother. "I know what Pokémon I'm choosing!" I can't even hold back my excitement. As I pick up my plate to take it to the sink, father nods towards the clock. In a moment of confusion and hesitation, I look to read the old analog display.

I study it for only a moment, but father witnesses the shock and dismay in clear script along my forehead. "Don't worry about those. If you don't hurry, you'll be late." The minute hand ticks from o-one to o-two as I grab my bag and make a mad dash for the door. I'm really worried about the hour hand, tucked neatly over the seventh notch.

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**Authors Notes:**

This upload is partially to prove I'm still alive and to start an experiment. I know I haven't updated my _Naruto_ or _Fullmetal Alchemist_ fan-fictions in a while, not to mention my _Bleach_ fan-fiction, but I can assure my readers that I am working on them. I've just been very busy. In the mean time, I'll see how a first-person perspective, present tense is received. I'm also making chapters change based on perspective.

I've been working on the outline for this fiction for a relatively long time, about a year and a half or so. I intend it to be a fairly short project, but I actually don't know what the journey will be. Like my _Naruto_ fan-fiction, I have the ending nearly completely written versus vague outlines of the in-between. I am working on all my projects, concentrating on _Naruto _and _Fullmetal Alchemist_, with _Bleach_ and _Pokémon_ as "tickle my fancy" side dishes (and _Memoirs of a Hokage_ when I get the inspiration).

On a side note, Soaell is pronounced like "soil" kind of slowly, and it's proper spelling is Soæ`ll and pronounced like saying "soy well" really fast.

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**Preview:**

Irvine Stately here! It looks like I arrived just in the nick of time, too! They were about to hand out Remingdale's starters, and I would have missed my chance. Bummer for the other trainers, but I'm getting my choice of starters! I'm aiming for the top, so I've gotta beat Diluvia's dragon master Sam! Therefore there's only one starter I can choose. That starter is...**  
**


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